SuitabookComic Stories
Roger McGough, Adam Stower, Judy Blume, Mark Twain, Roald Dahl
- Reading
- Try one complete story at a time, then vary the authors and subjects rather than reading straight through. Check the contents first, and pause after extracts to discuss what remains unresolved.
- Themes
- Comic variety: The collection brings together stories and extracts by many writers and is classified as humorous stories. Humour is the organising principle of the collection, though individual comic methods and tones are likely to differ across entries.
- Range of situations: The contents include animals, a family, a pigeon, Viking treasure, Tom Sawyer, Julius Caesar’s goat and magic flying slippers. The anthology offers a broad imaginative range, but the list alone cannot show whether these situations are endorsed, criticised, frightening or simply played for comedy.
- Extracts and unfinished narratives: The contents explicitly label entries from Double Fudge, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Julius Caesar’s Goat and other works as extracts. Extracts can offer a glimpse of a longer narrative without resolving it, so the collection may invite curiosity as well as leaving some situations open.
- Worth knowing
- Some titles point towards bodily or mischievous humour, animals, judgement, a ratcatcher, a hitchhiker, pickpockets and a yellow ribbon. The actual scenes, language and intensity are not established from the contents alone.